Looking back...

I was looking through old photo albums, yesterday, which I love to do. I came across a few, rare photos of myself, at a much heavier weight. When I was at the end of my pregnancy with my daughter, I was 205 pounds. I was a little heavy before this (160), but putting on all that extra really made me overwhelmed, after she was born. In this photo, my daughter was already 5 months old, and I was still about 185 pounds. At 5' 6", that's about 40 to 50 pounds over normal. It took me a full year, to bring my weight down to 145. I basically ate less junk, ate more fresh fruit and veggies, and walked every day.

I had my son, in 2000, and got right back down to my starting weight within months, because I kept up the walking throughout the whole pregnancy. I felt good, but my weight stop moving downward for a while.

I then decided I wanted to be smaller. I'm ashamed to admit that I got myself down to 130 in the worst way. I hardly ate anything. I walked and ran on my treadmill twice a day, 45 minutes each time. I drank coffee from morning 'til night, to keep my energy up. I got thin, but I looked gaunt. My skin looked horrible, my hair was thinning out. I was skinny, but looked terrible. I keep this up for almost a year, but it's no way to live, so the pounds crept up, again.

In 2003, I read about Body for Life...I forget if it was in a magazine or online. My sister had also heard of it, and already had the book. I bought the book, myself, and attempted my first challenge...and lasted 3 weeks, because I was so impatient, and so addicted to the scale numbers...they weren't moving fast enough. I quit. Went back to my walking/running...kept the weight in check, but no great results. A year later, I tried BFL again, and again, 3 weeks in, quit. I was seeing some results, but again, the scale wasn't moving much.

Okay, so this winter, my weight crept up to 151, and it was either buy some new clothes, or do something different. I stumbled upon Body for Life Tracker...I lurked for a week and joined. I first joined a team of newbies, like me, and we created Road to Ripped. These guys saw me past that 3rd week and beyond!! The support made all the difference! I kicked things up a notch by joining a second team, where the pressure to perform is more intense, called Team Asylum. That powered me through to the finish of my first 12-week challenge! I'm just a few weeks from ending my 2nd challenge, and have started on an official challenge (competition) on the Tracker site.

Through Body for Life, I have made changes in my body that I never would have through starving and cardio. I've put on some lovely muscle, and gotten rid of a substantial amount of fat. I've reshaped my body! Not only that, but because I'm eating so healthy, my skin and hair look better than ever! Plus, I don't need coffee all day. I have energy!! I have to say, I wouldn't go back 10 years for anything. I think I look more like a 28-year-old, now, more than I did back then.

I sound like an infomercial, but I can't express enough how this lifestyle has changed me. With all that's going on in my life, right now, if I wasn't taking this kind of care of myself, I'd be on anti-depressants, like I was on and off for years. I am so much stronger, inside and out, than I have ever been!